Flashbacks

Ohmigosh, would you believe Neighbor Joe brought up yet another load of firewood?!  He said he's down to the cleanup on the job now and I can only imagine how glad he is for that.  I admire the fact that he has stuck with it.  Steve would have been off on another quest or project about halfway through.  Neighbor Joe made me promise to "light that fire!" every cold day next winter, and now I have no excuse not to.

I am so proud of GB.  I tried an experiment on our morning walk, carrying the leash but not attaching it to his collar.  When we got to the critical point of decision, up the driveway or down, he didn't hesitate or even look and turned the corner with me to go up and around.  Good boy, Good Boy!

Years back, my friend Doris and I made a day of it when we'd go shopping together once a week.  We'd have lunch out somewhere (she was fond of Mongolian barbecue) and then tend to business.  Yesterday Arden and I did much the same thing.  She was hungry for fish and chips and I had my mouth set for tempura shrimp.  The two little shops were right next to each other, with tables and umbrellas outside.  We took our time, enjoying the light breeze and our food before moving on to tend to the few stops for supplies before heading home.  It was like a trip back in time.

What in the world?!  Late in the afternoon I heard "Pocketa pocketa" (The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty, 1947, Danny Kaye) and saw a slow-moving something or other coming up the drive.  It turned out to be Helper Dude on the old Ford tractor that he'd finally got running after all this time.  Wow!  I had visions of Steve tilling the south pasture or some other chore, and me taking him a cold drink now and then.  He loved that old tractor.  HD had come to show me the results of his efforts, as well as to ask if he could take all of the implements, of which there are many, up to his place to sell it all as a package.  That was our deal in the first place, so of course I said yes.  He came back later with a trailer to haul them away.  The yard will seem empty without them.

Lunch out means at least two meals for me, and I had tempura shrimp and vegetables for dinner, too, while watching an even brighter moon rise over the hills.

It was a good day.